Blockbuster OnDemand rushed out? Glitchy playback & DRM issues

Has Blockbuster cut a few too many corners in order to meet its “in time for the holidays” OnDemand release promise? That’s looking increasingly likely; Dave Zatz, one of the first to receive the 2Wire-made streamer, has been plagued with usability and performance problems, including lagging menus, patchy downloads and poor audio/video synchronization.

“The “DVD quality” video looked fine when it wasn’t marred by artifacts and stuttering, which was very noticeable on four occasions. Additionally, at two points the audio and video lost synchronization – a pause/play toggle corrected it” Dave Zatz

Bizarrely, while a movie is downloading you can watch it, but not rewind or fast-forward. Having waited for the whole thing to download, then – after several restarts – imagine Dave’s surprise when a DRM error popped up saying he couldn’t watch it anyway.

Dave’s decision? The OnDemand box gets a new home in the closet, until there’s a firmware update available to make the whole thing less frustrating. This might not be the box to buy for your tech-phobic in-laws this Christmas.